The share of the dollar in trade between Russia and China fell by five percentage points. in the first quarter of 2020 and reached a historic low of 46%, Izvestia calculated based on statistics from the Central Bank and the Federal Customs Service.
It is noted that the American currency for the first time took less than half of the settlements between the Russian Federation and the PRC. In 2015, about 90% of settlements between the Russian Federation and the PRC were made in dollars. Then the positions of the American currency began to weaken noticeably.
At the end of 2016, the dollar took about 80% in the structure of settlements and subsequently lost about 3-4 pp. in year. In 2019, in fact, since the start of the trade wars between the United States and China, the situation has changed dramatically: as a result, the share of the dollar in settlements between Russia and China fell to 51%.
In 2020, the dollar continued to lose ground. In the first quarter, it occupied 46% of the Russian-Chinese trade turnover, for the first time it was less than 50%. However, the dollar was not replaced by the ruble, it was replaced by the euro and the yuan.
Euro added 8 p.p. compared to the average indicator of 2019 and amounted to more than 30% of settlements between the Russian Federation and the PRC and the Yuan added 2 p.p., taking over 17% of settlements. This level is a record high for both currencies.
Read more in the exclusive material of Izvestia:
The yuan took: the dollar for the first time took less than 50% in Russia’s trade with the PRC